Caesar reached out as if to say he wanted to take a look, so I got up and handed him my hot water bottle.
“Hmm. It’s pretty warm. Can I remove the cover?”
“It will be quite hot if you do,” I cautioned him. “I put boiling hot water inside.”
President Caesar heeded my caution and only partially removed the cover and began mumbling as he inspected my bottle.
“I see. You put hot water in it before you go to bed, and it’ll go under your blanket to keep you warm. You said you wash your face using the water in the morning? This doesn’t require the use of a magic stone, so it’ll probably be really useful for commoners. This is something my father would like.”
You’d better be impressed! Hot water bottles are revolutionary!
“Is it okay for this to be made with iron?” Caesar asked. “Iron is prone to rusting.”
I hadn’t thought that far. If I remember correctly, copper ones were more expensive.
“Copper would be ideal, but if that is too expensive, just adding a thin copper coating may suffice.” The technology to craft such metal plating seemed to exist in this world.
“If we’re going to plate this with copper, we’ll have to melt some copper,” Caesar said, placing a clean copper pot in one of the empty alchemical furnaces.
I thought you used electricity to plate stuff. Well, this is another world, and anything seems to go when it comes to alchemy.
I dumped the water out of the hot water bottle and placed it into the pot of copper.
“Coat it with copper,” I commanded, and the plating was done. Now that the bottle was copper-plated, the water inside would also be safer to use for washing my face, since it wouldn’t rust as easily. “President Caesar, would it be all right to make some for my family as well?”
They put out the fire in the angels’ room before bedtime. This winter is warmer than last year’s, but it still gets chilly in the mornings.
“Yeah, feel free to make as many as you want. More importantly, would you be interested in selling these hot water bottles through my father’s company?”
“Wait, you want me to make these and sell them?”
I appreciated the offer for another side job, but it didn’t seem right for the alchemy club to be supplying the materials.
President Caesar seemed to understand where my mind was going and he burst into laughter.
“No, no! You would be providing the manufacturing method to the Burns Trading Company in exchange for a percentage of the profits. I think trademarking, which is like the simpler version of patenting, would suffice for this.”
I guess it’s too simple of an invention to require a patent. It’s also possible that a similar thing already exists somewhere out there in this world.
“I’m not really sure how trademarking even works, but I will trust you to handle it, President Caesar.”
Benjamin stared at me in disbelief.
“Shouldn’t you talk to your dad first, Patience? This sounds like it may make a lot of money. You should have your family’s lawyer or accountant handle things.”
I would rather talk to Wyatt than my father. Also, we don’t retain a lawyer or accountant, nor do we have the money to hire one. Also, Duke Burns is supposed to be some hotshot businessman. If he really wants to swindle me, he’s going to succeed no matter what.
“That’s all right. I’m going to put my trust in President Caesar and leave it to him.” I didn’t have much of a choice in this situation.
“In that case, I’ll set up a meeting for us with my father. Go on, make your hot water bottles. When you’re done, we’re going to make a washing machine!”
By the end of fourth period, I’d made eleven hot water bottles. I gave the first one to President Caesar.
“I’ll show this to my father,” he said. “Okay, let’s make a washing machine!”
Arthur and Bryce had now joined us, so the five of us noisily discussed how we would create our washing machine prototype.
“Water goes in, it spins, then it drains. If we place these magic circles on each of these spots, that should work!”
Our washing machine started with a large metal box, which had a water-producing magic circle on the top of it. On the bottom of the inside there was a propeller, which was equipped with a magic circle that would make it spin. Finally, the underside of the box had a magic circle that drained the water. By placing a magic stone on each of the magic circles, our prototype would be complete. Unfortunately, things didn’t work so smoothly.
“It’s already dark outside, Patience,” Bryce pointed out.
I gasped, realizing how late it was. Darn, I was trying to be careful! It’s pitch-black outside!
“I’ll walk Patience back to the dorms,” Bryce announced to the others. “Especially since she has a lot to carry back.”
That’s my fault. I got greedy and made ten whole hot water bottles for myself.
“I’ll go with you as well,” Benjamin said. “It looks like you have a lot to carry.”
Benjamin then took some of the hot water bottles I was struggling to pick up.
“Thank you. I was trying to be mindful about returning before it was too late, but it got dark before I even realized.”
Bryce and Benjamin both chuckled.
“You’ve already become a full-fledged member of the alchemy club, Patience,” Benjamin declared.
Don’t say that, Benjamin! Don’t you know that this club is known for being a gathering of weirdos?
“I hope we can get more members during the Festival of Verdure,” Bryce remarked.
That’s right! This club was close to being dissolved!
“Putting a washing machine on display may not be very interesting for the other students,” I pointed out. “We may have to make a different magical instrument that will draw people to our exhibit.”
“You’re right!” Benjamin suddenly exclaimed, startling me with his loud voice.
There’s no need to roar! Can’t your hair be your only beastly quality, Fluffy?
“Could you come up with something for us, Patience?” he asked.
Wait, you’re putting this on me? Hmm, what about...that? But eggs are expensive, aren’t they?
“It looks like you have an idea!” Bryce observed. He was supposed to be the reasonable one in alchemy club, but even he was pressing me for details.